The Flower of Hogwarts
by Hermione Granger - Top mind at Hogwarts
Summary: Lily and James' years in Hogwarts and ensuing romance.


Petunia glowered at her younger sister tending her flower garden in the back yard of their house. Everything always seemed to go right for Lily. Her grades in school had put her at the top of her class without hardly having to study, she grew beautiful flowers in her garden, and everything seemed to come easy to her. Their parents claimed to love them equally, but she knew better. She knew that sainted Lily was the favorite. 

Petunia looked forward to the coming school year, which started in a couple of weeks, because then she would be going to high school and Lily would be left behind. She would have a few years respite from her former teachers coming up to her and telling her how WONDERFUL her younger sister was. She resolved to do her best in school and then maybe their parents would be proud of her.

"I can't wait til school starts,"Lily said, brushing the dirt off her hands and coming up to Petunia. 

"Of course not. You're so good at it, you don't have to do much at all,"Petunia couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice.

"You know I don't know why things come easily to me. I guess it is probably because I like to read so much. Maybe if you read more..."

"I don't need help from a pipsqueak like you!"

Lily shook her head sadly as she watched her older sister run into the house. Often she had offered to help Petunia with her schoolwork, but her sister always refused. The school had said that Lily could be skipped some grades if she wanted to, but she had always refused. She knew how her sucess irked Petunia and she didn't need to add insult to injury by being in the same grade as Petunia.

Looking at her watch, she saw that it was an hour til lunchtime, so she went up to the patio and got her book from the table there. Heading back into the yard, she sat down under her favorite tree and opened the book whose words she knew almost by heart. She was probably getting too old for fairy tales; after all she had just turned eleven, but she knew in her heart that she would always enjoy them. Her favorites were the ones with wizards and witches. Secretly she wished that she could do magic too, it would be so exciting.

A soft flutter of wings drew her eyes upward and to her astonishment she saw an owl sitting on the branch just above her head. She was puzzled, as she knew that owls were nocturnal creatures and didn't go out in the daytime. She was even more puzzled when the owl dropped a envelope into her lap and took off.

"That's odd..."She said, looking at the envelope which had her name and address on it and when she turned it over she saw it was sealed with wax and a strange emblem. She looked at it for several moments before her curiosity got the best of her and she opened it. The words that met her eyes were more wonderful than she could have imagined:

Dear Ms. Evans,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"WOW! I'M going to Hogwarts???!! I'M going to learn magic??!!"Scrambling to her feet as fast as she could, she grabbed her book and ran to the house.

"Mom, mom!"She called, annoying Petunia who was watching television in the family room.

"Mom's upstairs, what do you want?"

"You're not going to believe this, but I'm going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

"Sounds like a freak school. You'll be even more of a freak than you are now!"

"MOM!"Lily ran upstairs, tears in her eyes.

"What's the matter? Is your sister teasing you again?"

"She's calling me a freak, just because I got accepted to Hogwarts!"

"You were accepted to Hogwarts? That's wonderful! I'm so happy for you!"Julie said, giving her younger daughter a hug,"Don't you worry, honey. I'll deal with Petunia. It's going to be so wonderful having a witch in the family."

"I always knew you were a witch, just not the magical kind,"Petunia said maliciously.

"Go to your room, Petunia!"Julie could not keep the anger out of her voice, as she was tired of Petunia picking on Lily.

"Sure, take her side. You always do,"Muttering under her breath, Petunia stormed upstairs to her room and slammed the door.

"Don't give a thought to what she said, Lily. She is just jealous. Now, let's see that letter,"Scanning the piece of parchment Lily handed her, she started thinking out loud,"You have to be at King's Cross September 1st, so I think we'll go into London on the 31st and get a room. Then we'll look for this place called the Leaky Cauldron. It says here that due to your special powers you will be able to see it, and once in there we'll be able to find someone to help us get to Diagon Alley."

Lily left the letter with her mom and went back outside, needing time to absorb all that was happening to her. She was a witch, a real witch! She was going to go to a school where she would learn magic! If she could just get thru the next week with Petunia, her life was going to be the best ever.... 


End file.
